Medeabrass Posted May 17, 2007 Author Share Posted May 17, 2007 in '04 when bob dubinsky (of star drumline fame) was helping us out in paoli, IN (hell), i cant even tell you how often he stressed to ALWAYS be with the drum major, and be precisely with the hands at all times. things started lining up towards the end of rehearsal, once everyone started trusting the "system."i guess thats why they noticably always had the "everyone doing everything the exact same way" aspect of drum corps down. silly star people and their crazy ideologies. Isn't it weird how it works?...It doesn't make any frickin sense but it's simple and it works. Yes, and we do love our simplistic ideologies. The KISS philosophy was definitely a watchword at Star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iamnivtop Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 So, my question is, does the DM also keep the time while Dr Beat is going so that everyone is on the same page tempo wise? Or do you not see what the DM is doing until you get to the drill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtimedrummer Posted May 17, 2007 Share Posted May 17, 2007 in '04 when bob dubinsky (of star drumline fame) was helping us out in paoli, IN (hell), i cant even tell you how often he stressed to ALWAYS be with the drum major, and be precisely with the hands at all times. things started lining up towards the end of rehearsal, once everyone started trusting the "system."i guess thats why they noticably always had the "everyone doing everything the exact same way" aspect of drum corps down. silly star people and their crazy ideologies. Bob Dubinsky is one of nicest guys I've ever met in the activity. I've had the good fortune of judging some band contests with him over the years, and I'm always blown away with his great attitude and sense of humility. I've seen him work ensemble a few times too and he's one of the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medeabrass Posted May 17, 2007 Author Share Posted May 17, 2007 So, my question is, does the DM also keep the time while Dr Beat is going so that everyone is on the same page tempo wise? Or do you not see what the DM is doing until you get to the drill? You talkin' to me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Time Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 (edited) I understand where you're coming from, Medeabrass. B) It has taken some getting used to for some of us "old schoolers" who were used to watching more than listening during drill rehearsal. Now I can totally see how it helps. In my own brass rehearsals on the field, especially during winter/spring camps and early in the summer, I use the met about 50% to 75% of the time. As the season progresses and members and the DM get more and more used to the tempo we will use it a lot less and sometimes not at all. I remember how hard it was to trust the majors hands especially when the drill and show was till very new to me. It really puts a huge amount of pressure on the DM even when he/she is using their own mini-metronome. We did a lot of starting and stopping until we could get it right. I think that having a Dr. Beat and using it more often could have helped save a lot of time and also help ingrain the tempo in our heads a lot better especially early in the season. As an example (and I almost hate to mention it) listen to '88 Star during the Fugue. (Right after Summertime) That was extremely challenging and I don't think we ever got it to really click all summer long. Very frustrating. I think using a met on the field during rehearsals would have helped a great deal. After listening to several preseason recordings, I was noticing that almost all of them were using a Dr. Beat for tempo. I don't really understand this philosophy. Shouldn't the members get used to watching the drum major and timing their feet with his hands as opposed to listening to something? I guess it's just the way I was raised. I would think if you're listening for the beat, then there will be several different interpretations of the down beat out on the field because of the doppler effect. I can see why it's practical for a battery because of their proximity to each other but it doesn't make sense to me for a hornline to do this. Could this be why we see so many people marching out of step in the past 10-15 years or so? The only time I ever remember using a metronome was during our marching basics blocks. edit/clarification: I was thinking about brass players in particular. I have no idea how drummers do it. Edited May 18, 2007 by Mark Time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob984 Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 I know that as a musician, I have always found the volume and tone of Dr. Beat to be annoying and musically distracting. However, I understand that it does get the tempo slammed into the brain. But, I also think that all need to work on developing great "internal" timing, and I think it can be disruptive to the musical environment....I am not opposed to it being used when working on "ragged" or newly learned sections, but as you go along, I think it should be turned on and off, only used for a reference, and less and less as you progress. The level of excellence of the drum major as a musical conductor can also go a long way. GB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jared_mello Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Bob Dubinsky is one of nicest guys I've ever met in the activity. I've had the good fortune of judging some band contests with him over the years, and I'm always blown away with his great attitude and sense of humility. I've seen him work ensemble a few times too and he's one of the best. he was a great guy and rehearsal went really well that day (i also met a mello player from '92, josiah, who was hanging around the rehearsal site), but reminded me a bit of someone from the movie 'hollow man'. he had a real unique aura to him; hell of a presence. i was pretty #### intimidated, ill admit that right now, hahaha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 Bob Dubinsky is one of nicest guys I've ever met in the activity. I've had the good fortune of judging some band contests with him over the years, and I'm always blown away with his great attitude and sense of humility. I've seen him work ensemble a few times too and he's one of the best. Bob was one of our snares in 72, my last year marching with Garfield. A very nice guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karl E. Hungus Posted May 18, 2007 Share Posted May 18, 2007 i was just thinking about this. i marched bass 5. and i was never with the dm. ever. if i ever was, somebody from the tower would be like.... "hungus.... your so freaking slow. play farther ahead of the beat" then the bass tech would come by and shake his head at me. :( it took me a while to figure out what "ahead of the beat" meant the analogy i got from an alumni/awesome tech was this - my drum speaks slower than snares or tenors. so imagine your music as a time line, like a ruler perhaps. the quarter notes/feet through the music are the inch marks(therefore the half inch mark is half notes,etc etc.) i was told to shift my playing backwards 1/8th, therefor my downbeat quarters would fall before the inch mark on the 7/8ths mark. depending on how far ahead or behind my sound was, they told me how much ahead or behind the beat to adjust. another analogy i used would be to imagine that you were on a bicycle pedaling at the tempo of the music. and that the sound of your feet hitting the ground was the click of the dr. if i was told i was consistantly behind in a stretch of music. i made it my job to "pedal the bike a little faster"while still holding on to the sound of the dr., to the same effect as above. it was really wierd and stressfull, both years when i got home from tour i would play tenors in other groups, and it would take me a good month or so of attacking early/and being consistantly ahead of everyone else before i could relax back into the beat. it was like i had PTSD or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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